The Hindu Business Line : SPI Pharma sets up shop in India

NOVEL drug delivery systems specialist SPI Pharma, part of the UK-based Associated British Foods, opened its Rs 4-crore development and testing centre in Bangalore on Saturday.

The Bangalore centre, its fourth and only Asian one for drug delivery, will be the Asia-Pacific regional platform for B2B operations. The centre will begin work in January 2006 starting with testing dosage forms and delivery technologies for its Indian and global pharma clientele, the SPI Holdings CEO, Mr John Burrow, told a news conference here.

Globally the $100-million SPI Pharma supplies excipients, antacid actives and new drug delivery platforms. In India, it will focus on working with manufacturers of APIs (active pharma ingredients) to come out with easily delivered and low-dosage models of customers' products, said the SPI Pharma President, Mr Rana Kayal.

The 12-member Bangalore centre would initially focus on projects such as new drugs; off-patent generic versions and old neglected drugs that could be re-engineered into more palatable, patient-friendly formulations. These could be easily rendered medicine for children, the elder and the terminally ill, said Mr Sarath Chandar, Vice-President-Drug Delivery.

Mr Chandar said, "The future of the pharmaceutical industry does not depend merely on discoveries of new drugs but also on effective delivery modes that are also patient-friendly."

The new niche could be a $60-70 billion business opportunity, as pharma companies are beginning to concentrate on research, production and marketing, leaving the field open for outsourcing their drug delivery models.

SPI is currently working on new or engineered drugs of GSK, Aventis, Bayer, Pfizer, J&J, Novartis, and domestic majors Cipla and Dr Reddy's, Mr Rana said. "We are also in discussions with major API producers such as Matrix and Biocon."